Upcoming Bureau 42 content, including “Secret Invasion” plans

There are a number of reviews I’m planning to get done in the next few weeks and months. For details on what’s being reviewed and when you can expect said reviews, read below.

TV Options

I’ve been getting behind on reviews due to a minor explosion of issues in my day job, but those finally seem to be sorting themselves out. As a result, I think I can now plan to catch up on some reviews. I’m going to try and review one season of TV on DVD each month, starting with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Seven” to finish reviewing the seasons of that series. Other series haven’t been confirmed yet, so I’m opening that up for feedback from readers. The unreviewed seasons of genre shows in my collection are from the following series:

  • Adventures of Superman (George Reeves series)
  • Aeon Flux
  • American Gothic
  • Angel
  • Animaniacs
  • Batman: The Animated Series
  • Batman Beyond
  • Battlestar Galactica (1978)
  • Galactica 1980
  • Captain N: The Game Master
  • Charmed
  • Dark Angel
  • Dead Like Me
  • Gargoyles
  • Greatest American Hero
  • Harsh Realm
  • Hero High
  • Heroes
  • Incredible Hulk
  • Land of the Lost
  • Legend of Zelda
  • Lexx: The Dark Zone
  • Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
  • Lost
  • New Adventures of Batman
  • New Adventures of Superman
  • The Outer Limits (old and new)
  • Quantum Leap
  • Red Dwarf
  • Sliders
  • Space: Above and Beyond
  • Stargate SG1
  • Stargate: Atlantis
  • Super Friends (various incarnations)
  • Supernatural
  • Twilight Zone (newest edition)
  • V
  • Wonder Woman
  • The X-Files
  • X-Men: Evolution

If you have preferences for any of the above, declare them now.

Comic Plans

As you can tell by tonight’s review, I’m getting caught up on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reviews. I’m also going to review the original Serenity series that bridges the gap between the series and the movie. I also plan to review Spider-Man: Brand New Day in the sets that will be collected in trade paperback form. There are also recent events that haven’t yet been covered, including “X-Men: Messiah Complex” from Marvel and “The Sinestro Corps War” from DC. These will both be covered shortly. Other TV comic adaptations will be reviewed as well, including all of the completed “Battlestar Galactica” series published to date, and the “Heroes” collection. I also plan to complete the World War Hulk: Aftersmash reviews when those two series wrap up. Alternating with these reviews will be coverage of Marvel’s “Secret Invasion.” We’ve covered events before, such as “Civil War” and “World War Hulk,” but I’m planning to do things differently this time around.

As you may or may not be aware, the Secret Invasion plotline is about a Skrull invasion that has already started. Brian Michael Bendis thought of the idea five years ago, and has been seeding hints about this in virtually every title he’s written since then. He’s also mining everything from 1962 on for possible connections and references. That’s a huge amount of potential material to draw from.

I intend to cover it all, with more than reviews.

Starting tomorrow, I’m going to start reviewing everything that has the “Secret Invasion” stamp on the cover. In addition to that, I’m going to cover every previous story referred to by the “Secret Invasion” issues that I can get my hands on. (I currently have 7440 Marvel comics in my collection, so I should be able to get my hands on most of them.) In addition to these reviews, I’m going to create a “reading order” list, sorting all of the issues proven to be relevant to the story. All issues will be listed in the order they need to be read to make sense of the story. This will also include summaries of plotlines for all issues, my own conjectures about who may or may not be Skrulls in the Marvel Universe (starting with the Mighty Avenger who has conspicuously absent thought balloons) and general comments about the quality of the issues, so readers can decide which crossover issues to pick up without waiting for the full story arc review several months later. My ultimate goal is to turn this into a “Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5” level document related to this event, which will be updated each time I read a relevant issue. Due to the size and complexity of the document, I intend to write it in LaTeX and publish it in a downloadable PDF format. (If you’d rather have a non-downloadable HTML format, speak up and I’ll figure out which server or package can get latex2html on my Kubuntu box.)

These are my plans. Barring any more surprises at work, I should have time to get it done, too. Coverage will kick off tomorrow with a review of the issue that started it all: the first appearance of the Skrulls in “Fantastic Four #2,” from 1962. Coverage will continue with the later Skrull appearances in “Fantastic Four” and “Silver Surfer” issues from later years. In addition, I’ll be reviewing the Kree-Skrull wars from “Avengers” and “Silver Surfer,” the recent decimation of the Skrull homeworld in the Annihilation event, all unreviewed issues of “Captain Marvel,” “Ms. Marvel,” “New Avengers,” “Mighty Avengers” and “Avengers: The Initiative,” as those are known to have past or future tie-ins to the event. This event also promises to reveal what Nick Fury has been up to since he vanished, so I’ll cover “Secret War” to explain why he vanished in the first place.

I’ll be using Wikipedia to help me make sure I’ll cover anything and everything that might be covered. If you are aware of any Skrull appearances that I haven’t listed above, speak up, and I’ll try to cover those too.

7 replies on “Upcoming Bureau 42 content, including “Secret Invasion” plans”

  1. Requests
    Angel, Red Dwarf and Supernatural, please.

    Also a sort of half-vote for Lost, as I stopped watching it a while ago but was considering catching up if I decide it’s worthwhile/

    • Re: Requests

      Angel, Red Dwarf and Supernatural, please.

      Also a sort of half-vote for Lost, as I stopped watching it a while ago but was considering catching up if I decide it’s worthwhile/

      I second the Angel vote, and also one fore Æon Flux. It’d be a quick viewing.

    • Re: Requests

      Angel, Red Dwarf and Supernatural, please.

      I second Supernatural. Stargate’s various forms would be OK as a filler.

      How about Chuck?

      Damien

      • Re: Requests

        How about Chuck?

        I only listed those I currently own on DVD. I don’t do the download thing, so I won’t be reviewing Chuck unless I pick up the DVD set when it comes out. Given the writer strike, that could be available sooner than expected, but I’m still not sure I’m going to pick it up. (Most of the unreviewed sets above are also unwatched. I want to get through a few of those and the unwatched non-genre DVDs before I start collecting other shows.)

  2. Discussion threads
    I miss the discussion threads for genre tv shows as they air. LOST in particular :|

    • Re: Discussion threads

      I miss the discussion threads for genre tv shows as they air. LOST in particular :|

      If we miss something you want to talk about, use the "submit article" link at the left to suggest it. In the meantime, we authors are swapping e-mails about how to make sure every show has a discussion thread.

  3. Reviews
    I’d love to see you review American Gothic! And I’m very curious about the George Reeves Superman series.

    Is that the live-action Wonder Woman?

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